Fame On Friday #11

Posted by Leanne on June 8, 2012 Leave a comment (1) Go to comments

It’s Fame On Friday, because I heart my readers!!

Here we are again, another TGIF! I’m really looking forward to this weekend, we have a couple fun things on the schedule, including Jordan’s piano recital, a yard sale at the home of Elisa from Home Sweet Nest, and a birthday party for my sister and her daughter!! Busy Busy!!

Today I am pleased to introduce you to Melba! She has been following me since the beginning! Thank you Melba!

My 15 Minutes!

Everybody has their “15 minutes of fame” and I have already used mine up twice over (What? You haven’t heard of me?). But I am so excited to be here with you for another “15”!

First I’d like to thank Leanne for the opportunity to appear here on her blog. I joined the world of craft bloggers right before Christmas 2011 and am so excited to have ANYONE reading my blog.

My name is Melba, but I go by “buggal1989” in on-line circles and chose the moniker “buggalcrafts” to be my crafty persona. I was an Infection Control Coordinator (ICP) for 15 years before having to take a medical retirement due to fibromyalgia and other chronic illnesses. ICPs are informally known as “bug ladies” because we track down “bugs” or germs. And of all the “bugs” identified with infection control the ladybug is the one most ICPs take on as their alter-ego. So ladybugs now appear as prominently in my crafts now as the bugs you can’t see with the naked eye were in my “former” life.

I am now a full time mother and me-me, a more or less crappy disorganized housewife (LOL), a reluctantly disabled person, and an invertebrate, mostly self-taught crafter. I have been crafting pretty much all my life. My mom would have said I was born with a book in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other as these two hobbies have bordered on obsessions (Ok, to be honest more than border!)! I might have been born with paint in my hair too IF I had any hair back then! I was as my older sister put it a “Bless its heart, poor little bald head” baby!

I remember many happy days of sitting under the sewing machine “making” clothes for my dolls while momma sewed clothes for us. I don’t know if she didn’t have the patience or she just did not like to sew, but she did not teach even one of us three girls to sew! In fact it wasn’t until recently that it even dawned on me that she hadn’t! I took Home-Ec in high school of course, but I hated sewing and really did a number on what I tried to sew – I don’t think anything human could wear the blouse and pants I created! Fortunately, I am talented in other crafts!

My mom always supported my craftiness. We always had crayons and paper, the crayons might have been broken pieces and the paper torn open used envelopes (and they think up-cycling is new!), but they colored just fine! Vacation Bible School every summer (twice in a good year) was always a time to make macaroni, baby food jar, or magazine page art. Later my mom bought me macramé books and enough jute to tie around the world and I taught myself to macramé. She also pretty much bought any other craft items I wanted to try. I remember doing ceramics (ce-ram-a-king?) with her and her best friend every Friday night (or was it pestering her that I was bored until she gave in a put a paint brush in my hand?) as a kid.

However it happened, my mostly self-taught crafting skills grew apace until now there is very little I can’t do as good a job as a 5 year old can (LOL! That was an old joke between my mom and me!). We’d run off to a craft show and something would catch our eye and we’d go “We can make that!” in unison. The item would be under $30. And we’d end up spending hours and $20 more than it cost ready-made! Plus our tempers would flare and we’d blame each other for the dismal results before we’d finish. So finally it became an inside joke with us. We’d still said it every time we saw something we’d like (and we always liked the same things) and still spend more money doing it than buying it, but we’d do it anyway and laugh about it (MUCH) later!

Maybe of all the things I miss about my mother the time we spent crafting together is what I miss the most. So I’d like to dedicate my craft blog to her memory.

I love almost any craft, but a few are just too “crewel” for me to do! And my sewing is “sew-sew” but I am heck with glue! I can’t say I’ve tried to make an outfit with glue YET, but it’s always good to have a goal!

I’d love to see you on my blog. I think I have some neat things to share with you. One thing I am doing right now is a series of posts on crafty uses for cookie cutters. I have collected craft projects and tips for around 30 years and now have over 25 craft projects to share with you in the form of written and photo tutorials. Most of the ideas are not unique to me (a few are) but I did not keep track of where I found them and most of them were long before craft blogs – heck, some of them pre-date the internet (and YES, I am that old!).

I have also combed the web looking for uses I did not have on my list yet and have found quite a few. If you Pinterest check out my boards 100 Plus Ways to Use Cookie Cutters for well over 100 pins about using cookie cutters in crafts and food (I might have a few duplicates, but not many) and a quick photo reference for My Cookie & Cookie Cutter Crafts.

I recently wrapped up the series with some extra ideas I have found posted on the web that I do not plan to do tutorials on at this time and have shared sites that I have found with great tutorials. I still may do some of the projects that don’t have tutorials or photos at a later date.

If you have any original cookie cutter craft ideas (or ANY that I don’t have) I’d love to hear about and see them. I will feature your project on my blog, giving you credit of course or re-blog your post.

I am toying with compiling all the ideas into an e-book. I’d love to hear your thoughts on that.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave me a comment as I’d love to pay you a reciprocal visit.

And thank you again Leanne for this opportunity. You are really great!

buggalcrafts by Melba

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FREE to you!

Thank you so much Melba!! It was great having you today!!!

And thank all of you so much for reading!!!

xo, Leanne

Are you wondering what this “fame on friday” is? Here’s the info for you!:

Fame On Fridays! … because I heart my readers!!

I love my followers, and I am so grateful to all of you for following my blog…and as a thank you, I want to show you off! I know there are A LOT of talent reading my blog, and I want to know more about You!

If you have a blog, let us know whatever you want us to know about it! …But you don’t need to be a blogger to be featured. Love to bake? Send me your pictures and recipes! Love to knit? Send me a scarf! Haha, joking Maybe you accomplished something you didn’t know you could do, just because there was no one around to help you. Brag about it here! Maybe you changed something in your life in a positive way. Tell us about it! Maybe you are amazing at organizing. Share your tips with us!

If you would like to be featured, send me any info you would like us to know about you & pictures of what you have created. I’ll schedule you in for a Friday, and will email you to let you know when you are scheduled, so you can brag to all your friends!

The Only Rules:

1.) You must be a follower of Because (I think) I Can through email, Linky Followers, RSS Feed, or Facebook.

2.) Spread the Love! Let people know you are being featured, and where to find it! Do you have a friend you think people should know about? Get your friend to contact me!

That’s it! You can email me at leanne @ becauseithinkican . com, or contact me through my contact form on my sidebar. I look forward to getting to know you better!

Leanne